Weightlifters Pratima Kumari, Sanamacha Chanu, S Sunaina and coach Pal Singh Sandhu have been banned for life, Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi announced in New Delhi on Wednesday.

"We are taking very serious steps to root out doping from this country. We have decided to impose a life ban on Pratima Kumari and Sanamacha Chanu," Kalmadi said.

Pratima failed a pre-Olympic Games drug test while Chanu tested positive for a banned diuretic at the Athens Olympics last month.

24 year-old 2002 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist S Sunaina had tested positive for nandrolone during the Asian Championships at Almaty, Kazakhstan, in April. She was stripped of the two bronze medals she won in the 53kg category and was currently serving a two-year ban.

Sandhu, along with foreign coach Leonid Taranenko of Belarus, was sacked by the Sports Ministry immediately after the Athens fiasco.

The Indian Weightlifting Federation has also been temporarily banned by the sport's world governing body.

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